Baseball Recap: Morgan Comes Up Short

Morgan extended their losing streak to eight on Thursday, dropping their season record down to 5-17 in the process. They lost 8-1 to the West Muskingum Tornadoes. If the Raiders were looking for revenge after losing 4-1 to the Tornadoes when the teams met back in April of 2024, then they'll just have to keep looking.

Brylee Shannon spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered five earned (and three unearned) runs on ten hits and racked up eight Ks.

At the plate, Morgan saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Aaron Baker, who went 2-for-3 with one run.

As for West Muskingum, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 12-9. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.0 runs over those games.

On West Muskingum's side, they also let their pitcher toss all seven innings and he was also dialed-in: Ashton Ansel gave up a run (which was unearned) on five hits and racked up 14 Ks. Ansel also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because the Tornadoes are undefeated when he allows at most one earned run, but 8-9 otherwise.

On the hitting side, Grady Dollings was incredible, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with two stolen bases and two runs. Those two stolen bases gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Kaiden Fleming, who earned one run and three stolen bases.

Coming up, Morgan will square off against Coshocton at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. The Raiders are facing the Redskins at the right time seeing as the Redskins are stuck on a six-game losing streak. As for West Muskingum, they will be playing in front of their home fans against Claymont at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday.